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Friday, November 28, 2008

By this I mean...an internet website...I am not sure if it was actually on the news.

The story goes...The hubby and I were at Barns n' Noble lookin' at books and getting my coffee fix, and we decided to go see a movie as we had some time to kill and there was a theater right in the same shoppin complex we were at. So...we started walking along and I see this young lady with a camera standing outside one of the shops.

She askes, "Did you get any of your Thanksgiving recipies off of the internet?"
And I was like, "Yes, I got a cookie recipe off of Flickr."
The she said "Do you want to be interviewed about it?" "It will be really quick."
And I was like (after a quick look to the hubby) "Sure, why not!"
So she asked me some questions about where I was from and whatnot, then asked me about the cookies that I was going to make...these ones...and then I described them the best I could, trying not be confusing...and that was it!
I was thinking, as we were walking away, that "they are never gunna use that footage." And lo and behold, I found it online!! I was just sitting in the living room, with the hubby, watching Jeremiah Johnson and I thought about it, and then I decided to look it up and I FOUND it! Actually found an article and a VIDEO...that I am IN!! Woah! little did I know! funny...that lady must not have gotten alot of interviews that day! lol!
Well, just wanted to let you know! It made me smile!HAPPYTURKEYDAY! **Gobble Gobble**

Saturday, November 15, 2008

The hubbs and I were going over to a friends house and we wanted to contribute to the occasion by bring dessert! So...what to we decide to bring? A Strawberry Almond Torte! The recipe was originally a cherry-almond torte, but with neither of us being huge cherry pie filling fans...we opted to change it to Strawberry! It was wonderful! Very light, yet filling, moist and tasty! I highly recommend it!

~Strawberry-Almond Torte~(Adapted from Pillsbury.com)

1 box (1 lb.) yellow cake mix w/ pudding

1 1/4 c. water

1/3 c. vegetable oil

3 tsp. almond extract

3 eggs

1 can (21 oz.) strawberry pie filling

1 tbsp. cornstarch

2 c. whipping cream

1 tub (8 oz.) whipped cream cheese spread, softened

1/2 c. sliced almonds, toasted (+ more for garnish)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease the bottoms of two 9-in. round cake pans. In a large bowl, beat cake mixture, water, vegetable oil, almond extract, and eggs with an electric mixer on low speed until just combined. Then beat on medium speed for 2 min. Pour batter evenly into pans and spread level. Bake for 25 to 30 min. or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 min. then remove from pans and cool on rack for at least 30 min.

Meanwhile, in a 2 qt. sauce pan, mix the pie filling and cornstarch. Cook over medium heat about 7 min. stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat to cool.

To assemble cake: With a serrated knife, cut each cake layer in half horizontally. Place 1 half layer cake on a serving plate; spread with 1 c. almond cream. Top with second layer; spread with 1 c. pie filling mixture. Top with the third half layer of cake; spread with 1 c. almond cream. Place remaining layer on top.

Frost the side of the torte with remaining almond cream mixture. Spoon remaining strawberry mixture on top of torte, spreading almost to the edge. Spoon the reserved, almond-free, topping mixture into a pastry bag with a star tip, or a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off. Pipe cream around the top edge of the torte to join and cover the cream topping with the strawberry filling. Sprinkle the top rim of torte with extra toasted almonds. Refrigerate for 2 hrs. before serving. Store in refrigerator.

This cake had WONDERFUL almond flavor. The cake itself was very moist and light. Similar to a strawberry shortcake, but with almond flavoring. When I made this, there was very little whipped topping to work with so I altered the current recipe by increasing the topping mixture. I also used a block cream cheese that I whipped prior to mixing into the whipping cream. You can use whipped spread too. The topping was not overall to sweet and the cream cheese is NOT overly powerful...you will like this even if you don't like cream cheese frostings (I find some carrot cake cream cheese frostings to be overly sweet and cream-cheesey, is one was not like that at all!) You can also adapt this to use any flavor of canned pie filling you wish! You can also experiment with the extract/nut combo...like hazelnuts and blueberry, maybe.